


With a Touch of Magic

by orphan_account, softphiily (orphan_account)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21610471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/softphiily
Summary: Dan and Phil are forced to sit next to each other in class. When Phil's ex-girlfriend chases him around the school because of their breakup, he ends up trapped in a closet with Dan.
Relationships: Dan Howell & Phil Lester, Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21
Collections: Phanfiction Events Collab Fic





	With a Touch of Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [That Awkward Magic!!](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/538936) by SomeBunny. 
  * Inspired by [Heartstopper](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/538939) by Alice Oseman. 



> Written for [phanfiction events](https://phanfictionevents.tumblr.com) on Tumblr!

Besides his strange cold, it was just another boring day at school for Dan. Instead of normal snot, there was some bright green slime coming from his nostrils. He didn’t know what it was, and it was a kind of making him anxious, but he decided that he would just ask his grandmother about it when he gets home.

Dan was skipping a class to make out with a boy named Tom in the cleaner’s closet. They weren’t interested in dating each other, they just wanted someone to kiss. Dan genuinely thinks no one would ever date him because his appearance was bad with his messy hair and abnormally large glasses. So, when this fling started, he was shocked to find out that someone would kiss him. 

Unexpectedly, Dan sneezed. Thankfully, none of his mysterious snot landed on Tom. But it still made Dan look gross.

“What the fuck, Howell?” Tom spat out.

“Sorry, I’ve just got a bit of a cold,” Dan muttered.

“Well, if you’re sick, I think we’re done! You’ve probably gotten me sick now. Thanks a lot,” Tom responded sarcastically. It startled Dan to hear that their fling could be over.

The school bell finally rang, and Dan went off to his 3rd class of the day, Algebra. On his way, he waved to his close friend, Alex.

“Hey, Dan!” Alex yelled in response.

As he walked through the door, his teacher greeted him with “Oh, Dan, you’ve finally decided to come.”

“Sorry... sir.” Dan had forgotten his teacher’s name.

“No worries. Now stop bothering me, and go sit over there next to Phil Lester.” 

_Oh no_ , Dan thought to himself. He would have to sit next to his low key crush. Dan awkwardly went over to his seat and sat down. He and Phil made some weird eye contact. 

“Hi,” Phil tried to say.

“Hi,” Dan quietly sighed out. 

It would be a long year.

-

Later in the day, Phil was trying to walk as fast as he can through the school corridors. He would run if the school hadn’t banned running in the hallways. His ex-girlfriend Margaret was chasing him, but he just wanted her to leave him alone. He looked behind him to see how far away she was and suddenly there was a crash.

Phil ran into his best friend, Jimmy, who had fallen to the floor. “Ugh, Phil! What the bloody hell is wrong with you?” Jimmy said. He was clutching his face. His stuff had also gotten everywhere along with his abnormally large baseball bat.

“I’m so sorry, Jimmy! I -” and then Phil heard someone yell this name. “Sorry, I have to run!” Phil yelled. 

He saw Margaret leap over Jimmy and grab Jimmy’s baseball bat as Phil continued to speed walk. When Phil had first dated Margaret, he thought it fun until he realized how controlling she was. Margaret was jealous when other girls hung out with him and became very invasive. Phil decided it was best to end the relationship to avoid hurting her feelings. So he texted her to break up.

Phil had thought she had taken the message well, but when a girl in his class asked him for a pen, Margaret saw something else.

 _Why is she so damn jealous?_ Phil thought to himself. It was just a small interaction, and now she’s chasing after him! 

Suddenly, Phil found a door and took that as an opportunity to sneak in. Fortunately, it was just a closet and not a classroom full of students.

He took a deep breath and felt himself literally thanking the world because he was finally safe from Margaret. 

-

During his math class, Dan took a break and headed to the cleaner’s closet. He has always thought of that spot as his own little place to go during the school day. Also, he felt like he was distracting other students with his cold. Not that anyone usually noticed him.

Just as he walked into the closet to let out some sneezes, someone else came in with a loud bang. A boy was panting away, and Dan was in fear he would get caught. Unluckily, he let out another sneeze.

“Who’s there?” the boy asked. From hearing his voice, Dan realized that it was Phil Lester, his small crush.

Dan was about to climb to his feet and reassure Phil know it was just him, but to his horror, he felt a sneeze build up inside of him. Unfortunately, he sneezed all over Phil’s face. They were both in shock.

“That was disgusting!” Phil yelled. 

“Please don’t kill me, I just….” Dan tried to say.

“Huh?” Phil looked like he was seeing double.

The boys stared into each other’s eyes, Phil’s hands resting on Dan’s soft face, almost like they had a deep connection despite barely knowing each other.

Suddenly, the closet door whipped open. Margaret was standing in the doorway, looking confused. 

“I can’t believe it!” she said.

“I know,” Dan whispered out.

“You… have a boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?! What?! No!” Phil yelped.

“Now your perfect appearance makes more sense!” Margaret exclaims. “You should have just told me. I would have understood.”

“Margaret…”

“Oh, your underwear pattern! I’m sorry that I thought you were…”

“I’m not gay!” Phil shouts.

“... flirting with that girl!” Margaret screams back.

“All right, I’m gay! Please calm down! We don’t want to get in trouble!” Phil cries out. It scared Dan that a teacher would hear them.

“Phil, it’s okay. I’ve heard it’s difficult to accept yourself,” she said, in her calmest manner. “You and your boyfriend can relax…”

“Boyfriend? Wait, he’s not-” Phil was interrupted by Margaret again.

“I know someone who went through something like this and he suffered a lot, but I’ll make sure nothing happens to you two.”

“Margaret-”

“I know you would never dump me for a different girl… especially since I’m the head cheerleader.” Margaret smirked. “Well, you have my support!”

“Wait, let me…”

“Yeah?” Margaret said, still holding the baseball bat.

“Uh, thank you,” Phil responded fearfully.

“You’re welcome!” Margaret said back, enthusiastically. “Well, see you!” And with that, she finally left Phil alone.

“...What did I just witness?” Dan spoke for the first time in a while. Phil had almost forgotten that he was there.

“Nothing, just forget about it,” Phil said, almost cooled down from the chase through the hallway earlier.

The situation confused Phil. He just had bright green snot projected into his face from some quiet kid he sat next to but didn't know that well, and his ex-girlfriend now thought he was gay. Amazing. 

“I'm just going to leave,” Phil said, averting his gaze from Dan. He didn't really know what to say. 

“Oh, okay. I'll follow.” Dan shuffled behind Phil still dazed. 

“I think you should wait until I've left. It might seem strange, the kid that never speaks and the rugby guy coming out of a closet together.”

Dan did the strange exhale that comes out when you're trying not to laugh. 

“This isn't funny, Dean.”

“It's Dan.”

“See you in class.”

With that, Phil walked out of the cleaner’s closet and went back to class. 

“So, Mr. Lester, care to tell us where you went? And where Mr. Howell is?” The teacher tapped his ruler on his desk, pulling a face of disinterest. Everyone snickered, which hurt Phil somewhere deep inside. Or maybe that was him getting sick. 

“I had to talk to someone. And I don't know where Dan- Daniel is.” Phil stood still, waiting for the teacher to shout or send him away. 

But before anything else could be said, Dan burst through the door looking absolutely disheveled. Then a chorus of laughter followed. -

After the humiliating events during the school day, all Dan wanted to do was go home. Thankfully, the school bell finally rang and he could finally be free. 

At least the strange problem with Phil and Margaret was over and hopefully, Phil can correct his mistake.

As he approached the exit with all the other students, he noticed a bright rainbow poster. When he got closer to the doors, he realized what was written on it:

_New Couple: Dan & Phil! Support the gays! _

_Margaret, that bitch!_ Dan thought the day couldn’t get even more embarrassing than it already was, but this ruined it for him. He tore down the poster and literally speed-walked out of the school.

When he got out, he saw Phil getting ready to go on his bike, obviously oblivious to the new situation. He also realized that Margaret was standing outside, holding a huge pile of replicas of the posters and handing them out to the other students.

Dan stomped up to Phil and shoved the paper in this face.

Phil looked up in surprise, and the poster shocked him even more. “No way!” he said as he grabbed it out of Dan’s hands.

“What the fuck is this?”

Dan sighed out in slight annoyance. “You tell me.”

“Where did you find this?”

“Your girlfriend -”

“Ex-girlfriend!”

“- She’s giving them out to the school,” Dan finished.

“What?! If my rugby teammates find out, I will get kicked out!” Phil exclaimed nervously.

Dan rolled his eyes. “Why? Are they homophobic?”

“No, because they’ll think I’m dating you.”

Dan was even more annoyed now. “Well, I don’t really want any of this attention either!”

“It’s okay. I’ll fix it. It’s all one big misunderstanding. I will sort it before everyone finds out,” Phil said while walking up the school steps. 

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Hey, don’t be like that. I’m trying -” Phil abruptly stopped speaking because he realized how far Margaret went.

As both boys stepped back into the school, there was a large banner that read: 

_Vote For Sexual Diversity_

It stunned Phil. “Okay, wow. I understand.”

Margaret smiled over to them. “Hey Phil! What do you think of the banner? I told you I’ll support you!”

“Yeah, I need to tell you something about that…?”

“Do you like my new shirt?” It said _Support Dan and Phil_ with a large heart.

“No.”

“The rainbow heart was my idea…”

“Listen, Margaret, thank you for everything you’ve done, but you don’t understand the situation.”

“Do you mean we didn’t break up?”

“No! We definitely broke up. I don’t mean that!”

Suddenly, a deep voice came over the loudspeaker. “Phil Lester, please report to the Headmaster’s office.”

“Well, you are probably busy with everything happening. See you later!”

“Yeah…”

-

The headmaster sat down and gestured for Phil to sit opposite. 

“Now, Philip, do you know what this is about?”

Phil rolled his eyes. He knew what this was about. Margaret. 

“The flyers and posters?”

“Indeed. So, you and Daniel are perfectly fine to be in a relationship. In fact, it's lovely to see! However, we cannot have a commotion, and if there is any fuss about whether you are accepted by your peers, and Daniel's, I will take over the matter.”

Phil struggled to not roll his eyes. He was not gay. He was not in a relationship with Daniel Howell. 

“Yeah, sure, got it.”

Wait, why didn't he deny it? 

“Good. Now Philip-”

“Please call me Phil.”

“Philip. I support you fully. But please, please talk to Margaret.”

No one liked to stop her whenever she got stuck into something, and this activism was no different. Plus, she had a baseball bat. Totally not scary. 

“Why can't you? I really don't want to.”

Phil tried to get out of it. 

“Please, Phil. Now you're free to go unless there's something else you need?”

“No, sir. Have a good day.”

-

Dan leaned on the wall outside of the Headmaster’s office, waiting for Phil to come out. He still didn’t understand why this whole situation was happening. 

Unexpectedly, Phil came out of the office, letting out a big sigh. 

“Did you get in trouble?” Dan asked.

Phil looked surprised to see him. “Were you waiting for me...?

“Yeah…”

“Anyway, I didn’t really get in trouble. Well, I’m not sure anymore.”

“What? Did you say the rumor is fake?”

“No, I’ll do it… right now! Hey everyone!”

Margaret suddenly came out of nowhere. “Everything okay?”

“No! We need to talk about this situation!”

“Stop saying Dean and me…”

“Again, it’s Dan,” Dan corrected.

“Dan, really? What type of name is that?”

“I don’t know. A normal English name, short for Daniel.”

Phil became fascinated by him. “That’s cool.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yeah…” Phil smiled at him dreamily.

Margaret was enjoying the young love appearing in front of her. “I really love how you guys get along so well.”

“Please stop Margaret,” Phil replied in his annoyed tone. He grabbed Margaret’s hand. "Let’s talk over here.”

 _I wonder how Margaret will take it_ , Dan thought. She seemed understanding of the situation when Phil was explaining. _Looks like it’s going well enough._

Dan saw Margaret happily walk away while Phil was cowering in fear. Despite Phil’s reaction, it made Dan believe that it was all okay. Phil walked back over to Dan.

“So, what happened?”

“Looks like we are dating!”

It shocked Dan to hear the news. “What?! We are dating?”

“I’m sorry for involving you in this, but can you do this for me for just a few days? I bet Margaret will forget about it soon.”

“Okay…”

“That was so much easier than I thought it would be…”

“But with some conditions.”

“God, of course, there are.”

“Carry my books every day.”

“What? No way!”

“And you have to get me lunch every day.”

“Nope! I’m not doing that.”

“Three days a week.”

“Once a week.”

“Starting now! And one more thing…”

Phil sighed. “What?”

“... If you could ask your rugby teammates to stop calling me a Hobbit, that would be great!”

That made Phil laugh out loud. “But it fits you!”

“Shut up!” Dan smiled and blushed a bit. He appreciated Phil’s laugh way more than he wanted to.

“Okay fine, I’ll talk to them.” 

“Cool! We have a deal.”

And with that, the boys shook hands.

-

Talking to the rugby guys would not be an easy job, at least that's what Phil was thinking. He had to dash off to practice and thought he should just spit it out in the locker rooms. 

A bunch of hormonal teenagers is never the best situation, and to say Phil was feeling apprehensive was an understatement. 

“Guys, I have something to ask you.”

They all turned to stare at Phil. 

“We know you're gay, and that's completely fine, as long as you don't come on to me,” Aled assured. 

“No! I mean, I don't know. All I need you to do is to stop calling Dan a Hobbit.” Phil gave a nervous smile, and all the rugby team nodded. 

“Cool with us,” Tao said. 

And that was that. Done. Over. 

That was until Phil saw Margaret out on the field. She was holding rainbow pom-poms and was wearing the t-shirt she has printed. _Oh my God, when will she stop?_

“S-U-P-O-R-T” she cheered, jumping up and down, she didn't even realize that she had spelled ‘support’ wrong, but no one wanted to tell her that. After all, where was the baseball bat? 

The hour of rugby passed quickly, turns out that being shoved into a muddy field worked wonders for forgetting things. 

“Tell Dan we will stop calling him Hobbit, so long as he doesn't break your heart,“ Aled said, slapping on Phil’s back as he walked past. Phil desperately wanted to set the story straight - ironically, that he was straight. But something inside him was enjoying this. 

-

The next morning, Dan was still sneezing the strange slime-like snot. He didn’t understand what was happening to him. 

He just wanted to eat his breakfast like a normal person, but his obnoxious cold was ruining it for him.

“Dan, you good? You need new tissue?” his brother Adrian questioned him.

“No, I’m good, thanks.” He seemed a little annoyed by his brother’s words. He seemed too ill to eat breakfast anyway. Dan walked out the door, feeling his father’s glare on his back, probably from being harsh towards his brother.

Dan began down the pathway to school.

Suddenly, he heard a small, grey car, slowly approaching him and coming to a stop. And Phil was sitting in the driver’s seat.

Phil’s random appearance confused Dan. “Uhh… What are you doing here?”

Phil looked at Dan cooly. “Well, I thought I should probably pick you so it will look like we are dating. Get in.”

“Um, okay?” Dan opened the passenger door and climbed into the vehicle.

They both sat in awkward silence as Phil drove them closer to the school. Dan already lived only 5 minutes away from the school and he had been walking to it for a while, so he didn’t really understand why Phil felt the urge to do this.

After about a minute of Phil driving, which felt like forever to Dan, they finally arrived at the school parking lot. 

On the outside of the building, everything was ordinary and it seemed like Margaret hadn’t done any damage yet, but Dan feared what would be on the inside.

Phil got out of the car while Dan was busy thinking. He walked over to Dan’s side of the car and opened the door for him. Dan was shocked by his manners. He felt extremely awkward.

“Uh…thanks,” Dan muttered. He got out the car, feeling his cheeks fill with red from all the eyes glaring at them.

“No problem,” Phil replied quietly. 

And then, Phil abruptly took Dan’s hand in his own, and Dan started to freak out. _He was holding hands with an incredibly attractive and popular boy_. Who wouldn’t be?

Dan was still extremely stunned by Phil’s drastic movements so Phil basically dragged him into the school.

When they got in, Phil unhooked their hands and unexpectedly hugged Dan.

“See you after school,” Phil whispered into his ear. Dan blushed again from the sensation of Phil’s hot breath in his ear.

If this is what it was going to be like dating Phil, then maybe Dan didn’t mind at all.

-

The routine of Phil greeting Dan in the morning and dropping him off after school went on for weeks. Dan was crushing harder and harder on him as time went on. 

Dan’s cold never went away throughout these weeks. He was scared he would have to tell his father, who would probably just send him to a doctor.

He believed it was more than just a plain old cold. No one had ever had green slime-like liquid pour out of their nose, at least as far as Dan knew.

One day after Phil had dropped Dan off back at home, Dan felt some strange feelings throughout his body. He ran up to his bedroom and immediately locked the door.

Suddenly, everything in his room, including Dan himself, began to float. There was an obscure, sparkling green dust floating around.

Out of nowhere, the door burst open - even though Dan thought he locked it - and Phil stood at the entrance while Dan just looked at him, wide-eyed while screaming. He had no control over what was happening.

“Dan, calm down!” Phil yelled.

Without a warning, everything went back down to the ground. Dan fell with a loud flop, and he curled up in a ball. He was dazed, feeling the pain from hitting the hard wooden ground.

Phil was amazed. “Holy shit! Dan?! What was that?! Are you okay?!”

Dan sat up as Phil properly locked the door. “I don’t know? I’m just as confused as you are. All I know is _you_ somehow stopped it.”

Had that moment in the cleaner’s closet somehow connected them both? Did Phil have control over what is happening to him? Dan was even more perplexed than he was before.

Phil sat down next to him on the floor. “Are you okay?” he asked again.

Dan shook his head. “No, not really. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but it’s really annoying.” He put his head between his legs.

Suddenly, Dan was engulfed in Phil’s arms.

“Don’t worry. We can figure it out together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow us on tumblr @ [sofphiily](https://softphiily.tumblr.com) & [flowerpotphil](https://flowerpotphil.tumblr.com)


End file.
